Lewis Award Recipients

Throughout her career at Winston & Strawn LLP, Linda Coberly has been a powerful force for change in pro bono and public service. Since she joined the firm in 2004, she has completed more than 2,000 hours of pro bono service and worked on more than 90 pro bono cases. She shapes immigration policy, advocates […]

Kathleen Robson Gordon and Sal Lopez started their two-partner law firm in 2012 with the explicit goal to make pro bono an essential component from day one. Hundreds of pro bono cases later and countless clients impacted, the results have been simply extraordinary in just their first five years together.

Throughout his impressive career spanning four decades, Larry Wojcik has been a true champion for pro bono and public service. He jumped right in as a newly minted lawyer in 1977, representing poor people facing a variety of legal issues through Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. Those initial endeavors were just the beginning, and he has […]

In his 17 years as an attorney with Jenner & Block, Gabriel Fuentes has performed more than 5,000 hours of pro bono work. While it would be near impossible to catalogue all of the pro bono cases he’s been involved with over his tenure as a litigator, Gabe’s focus has been on indigent criminal defense, […]

Jill Metz has devoted her 35-year career in law to litigating, advocating and educating the public about LGBT legal issues, both in her private practice and through her pro bono service. Jill graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1978 and opened her firm, Jill Metz & Associates, in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. Seeing a need, she quickly turned her focus…

Colby Kingsbury doesn’t consider pro bono service to be a task or an option; she considers it an integral part of being a lawyer. Through her many hours of direct pro bono service and her leadership in a variety of different pro bono contexts Colby has helped scores of incarcerated individuals, immigrant families, and children impacted by poverty, abuse and discrimination.

This year we recognize the collective work of John Grossbart and Stephen Libowsky, who are partners at SNR Denton, and Donna Welch, who is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis. While John, Steve and Donna each have exemplary individual records of pro bono service and leadership, this year we especially…

Erin McCloskey Maus has been committed to pro bono from the time she was a student and Civitas scholar at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She put this training to use as a summer associate at Baker & McKenzie when she successfully handled her first of many disability rights cases. Now a successful partner at Baker & McKenzie, Erin maintains a busy products liability and…

Fredrick Cohen was a recognized expert in litigating a variety of commercial and business disputes. In his distinguished career, he amassed a string of courtroom victories, including obtaining the largest jury verdict in the history of the False Claims Act. But Fred was much more than just a skilled litigator.

In his more than 30 years as a sole practitioner, Steven Bashaw has distinguished himself in many ways: as a well-respected real estate lawyer with a busy practice; as a prolific writer and frequent speaker throughout the community; and as an adjunct faculty member at both DePaul University College of Law and the College of DuPage. But it is his longstanding dedication…